Most Baby Bells filed comments supporting the charges, however. They
argued that Internet growth requires them to make substantial
investments in upgrading their networks, and that they should be
compensated through the charges.

The coalition's filing came on the last day of public comments on the proposal.

"The coalition hopes the FCC adopts its tentative conclusion to not
impose access charges," said Harris Miller, co-chair of the group. The
FCC is expected to issue a final ruling later this year.

In its filing the group said: "[Imposing carrier access charges on ISPs]
would risk quashing the broad participation of what has become a highly
important mode of free speech."

Public interest groups such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation, as well
as trade groups for newspapers and cable television,
sided with the Internet access coalition.

As previously reported, the FCC also received more than 100,000 emails
from Netizens who expressed their views on the proposal. The flood
of email temporarily caused the shutdown of one FCC computer network
last week.